Tufted fabric



R. L. WILCOX TUFTED FABRIC Dec. 11, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 51,1959 R. L. WILCOX TUFTED FABRIC Dec. 11, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledJuly 31, 1959 IN V EN TOR. P0 65E A W/z 60X ATTOPA/Ey United StatesPatent Ofifice 3,067,430 Patented Dec. 11, 1962 Delaware Filed July 31,1959, Ser. No. 830,765 2 Claims. (Cl. 2278) The present inventionrelates to a tufted pile fabric having cut pile pattern areas and uncutpile background pattern areas.

Tufted pile fabric composed of figure and ground areas of differentheight have been proposed heretofore. It has also been proposed toproduce tufted fabrics having cut and uncut areas constituting patternsin the fabric. Finally, it has also been proposed to use pile yarn ofdifferent color in pile fabric structures.

Heretofore, tufted pile fabrics have not combined all the physicalcharacteristics which would render them equal in customer appeal towoven fabrics adapted for the same purpose.

Many fabrics of the Wilton variety have heretofore been produced incomplex design and color variation of exquisite beauty. These fabricshave been made possible by the fact that multi-frame looms underJacquard control have provided very flexible tools for their production.To date tufting machines do not provide the same possibilities of yarnmanipulation with the result that only tufted fabrics of ratherelementary design and color variations have been produced.

It is, therefore, the primary object of the invention to provide afabric structure which can be produced in a tufting machine but which iscapable of great variations in pattern and color design such that Wiltonquality fabrics can be produced.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a tufted fabricstructure which has an improved hand and which embodies superior wearingqualities.

It is another object of the invention to provide a simple tufted fabricstructure which is capable of a wide range of variations such thatfabrics can be produced which are fully competitive with woven fabricswhich are more costly to produce.

Accordingly, it is the purpose of the invention to provide a tufted pilefabric having cut pile pattern areas and uncut pile background patternareas of simple structure, yet capable of design variation over a widerange of patterns.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a tufted fabrichaving a three dimensional effect in conventional tufting machines. Tothis end the fabric has formed therein cut pile pattern areas, loopedpile background areas composed of looped pile of intermediate height,and pattern definition areas separating said pattern areas which arecomposed of adjacent low pile loops forrred in the same coursescontaining the pile of which said higher pattern areas are formed.

It is the further purpose of the invention to provide for simple colorcontrol in a multi-colored tufted fabric.

It is still a further object of the invention to provide a fabric whichpresents a color effect, when colored yarns are employed, which is overand above the effects heretofore produced on tufting machines.

The invention also contemplates a tufted fabric structure in which boththe cut pile pattern area and the uncut pile background pattern area aregiven body, and the high pile thereof is supported throughout thestructure by low pile loops at opposite sides of the high pile.

The invention is predicated on the symmetrical treatment of alternatepile yarns such that a low pile loop appears in conjunction with higherpile, whether looped or cut. The structural technique is also relied onto provide a simple method for controlling color distribution throughoutthe fabric by reason of the ability of the higher pile loops or cut pileto mask adjacent low pile loops of different color.

The tufted pile fabric herein is characterized by cut pile pattern areasand uncut pile background pattern areas formed in a separatelyfabricated ground fabric by a plurality of parallel courses of alternatehigh cut pile and low pile loops only tufted into and extending from aface of the ground fabric to form cut pile pattern areas, and alternatecourses of low pile loops and parallel pile loops of intermediate heightonly tufted into and extending from the face of the ground fabric toform the uncut pile background pattern areas.

In its specific aspect, the low pile loops in the cut pile pattern areasare a continuation of the courses of the pile loops of intermediateheight in the uncut pile background areas and the low pile loops in theuncut pile pattern areas are a continuation of the courses of high cutpile loops in the cut pile pattern areas. This structure results in afabric of great durability in which the low pile loops in each of thepattern areas lends substantial stability to the face pile of thefabric.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference may be made to theaccompanying drawings in which like reference numerals indicate likeparts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a photographic plan view of a pile fabric according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a warp-wise view showing two adjacent lines of tufts,including a plurality thereof adapted for shearing to form a cut pilearea;

FIG. 3 is a view si ilar to that of FIG. 2 showing the sheared ends ofhigh pile loops; and

FIG. 4 is a view taken along a row of pile loops, including a pluralitythereof adapted for shearing to form a cut pile area.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tufted pile fabric herein is produced to embodycut pile pattern areas 10 and uncut pile background pattern areas 12,which are separated from each other by definitive areas 13 of adjacentlow pile loops. As in the usual practice, the fabric is formed bytufting loops of yarn into a separately formed ground fabric 14, asshown in FIG. 2.

The cut pile pattern area 10 is formed of long cut pile and alternateshort looped pile while the uncut pile back-, ground pattern area isformed mainly by looped pile of intermediate height and alternateloopedlow pile. A typical arrangement of alternate looped pile is shown inFIG. 4. which is taken along a single row of pile loops. In this figure,high pile loops 16 are alternated with low pile loops 18 enclosed withinthe bracket a constituting the pile of which the cut pile pattern areaof the fabric is formed. Ordinarily, the predominant uncut pilebackground pattern is formed by looped pile 20 which is of anintermediate height and which alternates with low pile 16 as shown bythe section of FIG. 4 embraced in the bracket 0. A minor portion of theuncut pile background pattern will Ordinarily be formed by adjacent lowlooped pile, as shown by the section of FIG. 4 enclosed in the bracketb. The adjacent low pile areas by which the pattern areas are separatedconstitute definition areas which lend prominence to the pattern areas.It is through the agency of the low pile definition areas that thefabric obtains its three dimensional effect.

According to the invention, a single pile yarn may form the high loops16, the low loops 18 and the loops 20 of intermediate height. Whenever acourse of high loops or loops of intermediate height is formed, theimmediately adjacent course of loops on both sides will be low, exceptfor those areas of the uncut pile background pattern where adjacentlines of loops may all be low. This assures that warp-wise, taking anysubstantial area of the fabric where high pile and pile of intermediateheight appear, every other course of pile will ordinarily be composed oflow loops.

Reference to FIG. 2 will illustrate the basic relationship of low loopsto higher loops. This figure shows two adjacent courses of loops.Specifically, in FIG. 2, the high loops 16 of the pile course in thebackground are designed to form the cut pile pattern area and it will benoted from this figure, that where the high loops 16 are formed, lowloops 18 are formed adjacent thereto in the pile course in theforeground. By the same token, loops 20 of intermediate height in thecourse of loops in the foreground are supported at adjacent sidesthereof by low loops 18 in the course of loops in the background, and bycorresponding low loops along the front face thereof, asviewed in FIG.2.

The height of the loops can be controlled in any suitable automaticallycontrolled tufting machines. Such control is usually under domination ofa pattern device which decreases or increases the velocity of yarn feedrollers located between the source of yarn and the needles. Basically,these devices control the amount of yarn fed to the several needles ofthe tufting machine and vary the amount as required to control theheight of the pile loops.

It-can be seen, therefore, that the yarn fed to a single needle may beformed into loops of any desired height depending upon the controlpattern by which the feed mechanism i regulated.

After the fabric has been tufted to form high, intermediate and lowloops as above described, the same is subjected to a shearing operationwhereby the tops of the long loops are sheared off as shown in FIG. 3.The fibers of the sheared loops will relax and fray to produce the cutpile pattern areas while the looped pile of intermediate height willproduce the uncut pile background pattern areas 12. After the fabric issheared, it is subjected to a steaming operation to cause the cut pileends to bloom. In this connection it may be stated that any suitableyarn may be employed. Particularly, since the fabric has beenconcelved'as a carpet, any suitable carpet yarns are adaptable. In thisconnection, it is contemplated that the best results can be obtained ina carpet by using conventional yarns.

It is contemplated that the high loop areas may be interspersed withrandomly distributed lower loops which are exposed when the higher loopsare sheared, thus producing a random sheared loop effect. In thealternative, the same effect can be attained by forming randomlydistributed long loops which extend above the surface to be sheared, andby then shearing only the randomly distributed long loops.

The fabric structure of the invention adapts itself ideally to theproduction of fabrics having a variety of shades and colors. By reasonof the masking function of the cut pile and the higher pile ofintermediate height, the low pile loops are concealed from view. Thismakes it immediately possible to form varicolored and varishaded designsand patterns by the simple expedient of feeding pile yarns of selectedshades or colors to alternate needles of the needle bank of the tuftingmachine. These results can be attained because the yarn chosen as thepredominant feature of the uncut pile background pattern is always andcompletely concealed in the cut pile and by the pile of intermediateheight which forms the uncut pile background pattern area. Wherever pileyarn which predominates in the cut pile pattern area and the yarn ofdifferent color or shade which predominates in the uncut backgroundpattern area form adjacent rows of low pile loops, the effect of a thirdcolor design, pattern and/or texture is obtained due to optical mixingof the two colors employed in proximity to each other without resort toany additional manipulation of the tufting operation.

While the fundamentally novel features of the invention have beenillustrated and described in connection with a specificembodiment of theinvention, it is believed that this embodiment will enable othersskilled in the art to apply the principles of the invention in .formsdeparting from the exemplary embodiment herein, and such departures arecontemplated by the claims.

What is claimed is: v

1. A tufted pile fabric having in each alternate course low and highpile and having in each remaining course low pile of the same height assaid first named low pile of said alternate courses and pile of a heightintermediate said high and low pile, said high pile of said alternatecourses being distributed along said courses to form high pile patternareas and said pile of intermediate height being distributed alongsaidremaining courses to form pattern areas of intermediate height, said lowpile throughout all of said courses being distributed therealong toprovide a support on both sides of said high and intermediate pile wheresuch high and intermediate pile forms pattern areas, and patterndefinition background areas composed of adjacent courses of low pileseparating said pattern areas.

2. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the pile of said high pile patternareas is cut.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,042,503 Carter June 2, 1936 2,882,845 Hoeselbarth Apr. 21, 19592,884,680 Nowicki May 5, 1959 2,912,945 Nowicki Nov. 17, 1959 2,928,099Moonan et al. Mar. 15, 1960

